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old_rider

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What is the smallest 12v alternator you have seen?
12/05/13 at 21:06:25

Am going to do some experimenting with fan driven (air power) alternators and the max outputs I can put them through.

I really dislike that the savage has such a poor charging system and will work towards making a small generating (altenator) dc charger for maybe an add on or 2nd lithium battery to run accessories or even replace the current battery/charge setup.

The wife drives maybe 3 miles to work and back which isn't enough to keep a battery healthy. So now i'm looking at an extra type charging system that will assist the one on the bike.

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #1 - 12/05/13 at 21:37:37

Unless you are running extra lights or other power suckers,... as small as the stock alternator output is, it is shunting power as heat to the rectifier at almost any speed above idle...
Adding more, without using it, will just cook your rectifier faster... a battery will only charge so fast without damage...
The rectifier is there to prevent that...

I'd recommend just riding a little more,... or using a trickle charger...

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #2 - 12/05/13 at 21:47:00

I am thinking of trickling the output or shunting it to only put out enough to add a small amperage.

Also I am wanting to experiment with the out put of several of them wired in synch (4-6), its driving me nutz I tell ya!

I'm planning on taking small fan blades and attaching them to the alternators and mounting them to a board attached to the crash bar setup for experimental purposes. Like in adding voltage to an electric car/bike/trike and trying to keep drag at a minimum.

I know that engineers will tell you the drag coefficient would be nullifying the aerodynamics causing a waste of energy, but I know in my backyard building heart I could make it produce more than drag would take away, thus enhancing or producing more mileage from an electric vehicle.

Or I could just put my new little 800W gen. in the trunk and run it to keep batteries charged, after all, it runs for 14 hours on 1 gal. of gas.

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #3 - 12/05/13 at 22:03:03

Alright OR,... yer' officially wacky... Grin

...

A. How about a little bicycle generator?... (clips to the forks and runs against the wheel?)...
B. Harbor Freight sells little solar car battery chargers that you could mount to charge the battery while is parked at work?... $20.00 I think...

...but,... what I'm basically saying is, I don't think you can charge the bike's battery enough in just 3 miles without cooking it... I'd look for something to charge while the bike sits...

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #4 - 12/05/13 at 22:03:12

I messed with bicycle generators when I was a youngin' they take a LOT of torque to operate.

Maybe I could go this route, if I can find a used one some where to play with on blade sizes and speed of rotation. Bet these guys would be interested in it too, maybe I can talk them into letting me borrow a used one to experiment with their product.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/600-WATT-WIND-GENERATOR-TURBINE-MOTOR-PMA-ALTERNATOR-...

If I could do it right I could just mount a couple of electric motors on a bike frame, and pull my small trailer with batteries inside. As an experiment mind you.... guess i'm headed to a junk yard for a project.

I don't think a junk yard will have the right type of batteries though, might have to beg or borrow.

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28660 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s Reply #5 - 12/05/13 at 22:09:09 Is that going on the bike?... ... I think I'm missing something...
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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #6 - 12/05/13 at 22:37:21

Nope.....just an extra alt. to see about extra power. It just irks me that a bike could produce such low power.

Kinda like the old computers verses todays, or the older cars vrs todays, or older aircraft vrs todays. Everything needs more power dangit!

But I would really like to put together a motorcycle trike with electric motors and try using fan bladed alternators or wind power generators to keep the batteries charging while moving, or if not charged up, just adding a few extra miles to the trip meter!

I just KNOW it can be done! my problem is once something bugs me this much I spend way too much time and money on it.... thing is, all I have now is time (thanks to the cancer doc!) since i'm in recovery mode and i'm going nutz sitting around washing clothes and dishes...LOL

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gizzo Serious Thumper Offline SuzukiCabbage. It's Savage. Posts: 1318 Australia	Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s Reply #7 - 12/05/13 at 22:40:18 I've seen a couple of Katanas that have had the end of the crankcase sliced off (I think to increase ground clearance) and a little alternator from a 3 cylinder Daihatsu Charade hanging behind the engine being driven by the chain. Dunno if that's what you're thinking of. A trickle charger would be simpler.
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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #8 - 12/05/13 at 22:41:30

Serowbot wrote on 12/05/13 at 22:03:03:

Alright OR,... yer' officially wacky... Grin

...

A. How about a little bicycle generator?... (clips to the forks and runs against the wheel?)...
B. Harbor Freight sells little solar car battery chargers that you could mount to charge the battery while is parked at work?... $20.00 I think...

...but,... what I'm basically saying is, I don't think you can charge the bike's battery enough in just 3 miles without cooking it... I'd look for something to charge while the bike sits...

Kinda like that solar charging idea, could mount it outside and run a wire into the garage and make a central plug in point and just trickle charge all of the bikes at once!

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #9 - 12/05/13 at 22:44:42

gizzo wrote on 12/05/13 at 22:40:18:

I've seen a couple of Katanas that have had the end of the crankcase sliced off (I think to increase ground clearance) and a little alternator from a 3 cylinder Daihatsu Charade hanging behind the engine being driven by the chain. Dunno if that's what you're thinking of. A trickle charger would be simpler.

Yeah, seen one at the camp area up on the dragon, guy had it plugged into his battery via a trickle cord.

But a trickle charger would be better, your right... I think solar one.
Don't know if I would trust it for her bike at work though, unless I could somehow make a bracket for it so no one could steal it.

Maybe mount it on top her travel bag, i'll look into it more in depth.

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #10 - 12/06/13 at 00:02:55

Okay call me nutz....

But here is a starting point, the drive train, already made....
at 110 hp per wheel, i'd only need one on a trike, unless the batteries to run it would weigh a ton, then I would need two....

http://www.proteanelectric.com/en/overview/

Lets see, two times 81kW....hmmmm, quite a few batteries, yup, gonna need my fan charging system and maybe a small generator too! Tongue

Or I could ask the Protean guys to make a smaller version..... would I dare ask? all they could say is NO ya crazy ol' coot! leave us alone! Shocked

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« Last Edit: 12/06/13 at 03:46:49 by old_rider »

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #11 - 12/06/13 at 08:16:52

Hay OldRider

I had the same problem when I used to pick-up my youngen from school everday. Its a 5 mile trip and the battery would drain more from starting than got put back on the dailly ride. .... SO ...

I put a option on the headlight. (togle swithch)

use the low beem power to fire the togle (SPDT). one side lights up a LED front light. the other just goes back to the low beem.

I found a headlight (5.5 ") with a small blub mounted in the bottom and the regular blub in the middle. "Doin't remember where exaclty but it was on line somewhere ? ... I've still got at least one of them if your interested .

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #12 - 12/06/13 at 08:29:44

http://hpevs.com/ great place for some electric motors/gadgetry/ect. they sell conversion motors that hook right up to a car transmission.

Would be a good place to start for a drive train. They have regen braking to try to put some power back into the batteries, of cource you can never having a charge rate higher than the useage rate.

You could drive round with a vertical wind turbine on the trunk to assist but i don't think any kind of alternator with fan blades will get you any assistance in keeping battery banks full.

If you prove me wrong, sign me up as a prototype tester however

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Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s
Reply #13 - 12/06/13 at 09:39:54

old_rider wrote on 12/05/13 at 21:47:00:

I know that engineers will tell you the drag coefficient would be nullifying the aerodynamics causing a waste of energy, but I know in my backyard building heart I could make it produce more than drag would take away, thus enhancing or producing more mileage from an electric vehicle.

Hey....guess what.....I "am" an engineer....and I am going to tell you that you can't get something for nothin". If you stick something out in the wind while you are riding.....it is going to take more power to run it than it will generate. It has to, the aerodyanic drag an efficiency loss in the blades, the drag of the housing and mounts, the friction the in bearings, the energy lost to heat and resistance in the wires.....it all adds up to take power away. There are some wind driven alternators built for vintage aircraft - but they use them as the engines don't have anyway to connect an engine driven generator/alternator.....not because they are efficient or make electricity for free.

If you have a wind mill attached to the ground and let the natural wind power it.....then you are getting something for nothing. But you cannot mount that same wind mill on your bike or car and drive down the road at 60mph and get anything for free.

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Serowbot YaBB Moderator ModSquad Offline OK.... so what's the speed of dark? Posts: 28660 Tucson Az Gender:	Re: What is the smallest 12v alternator you have s Reply #14 - 12/06/13 at 09:44:10 Dave wrote on 12/06/13 at 09:39:54: But you cannot mount that same wind mill on your bike or car and drive down the road at 60mph and get anything for free. Oh, yeah?... ...
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